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Nearness of The Wild
FINALIST AWARD, 2026. National Indie Excellence Awards for “New Fiction.”
A stranger. A secret. A ghost.
Kay Kelly resides in a remote nursing home on the Saugeen-Bruce Peninsula. Though an avid reader and painter, she feels increasingly forlorn and isolated from her fellow residents. Death appears to be her only remaining adventure.
But when a reclusive Marged Brice arrives at the home, Kay learns that life isn’t quite finished with her yet.
Abandoned by her family, and claiming to be 134-years-old, Kay’s new neighbour seems utterly alone.
But is she?
The voice of an unseen child, and the mysterious appearance of a diary from Marged’s youth, transport Kay back to an 1899 lighthouse on the wild, tempestuous shores of Georgian Bay.
Against a backdrop of murder, a broken engagement, and a spectral child named “Perdita,” the diary connects Kay to an unresolved secret in Marged’s past.
Kay discovers that she may hold the key to Marged’s anguished choice between two loves.
But will she share it?
Nearness of the Wild is part of “The Lighthouse Chronicles” which includes Perdita, also available through Balsam Books.
A stranger. A secret. A ghost.
Kay Kelly resides in a remote nursing home on the Saugeen-Bruce Peninsula. Though an avid reader and painter, she feels increasingly forlorn and isolated from her fellow residents. Death appears to be her only remaining adventure.
But when a reclusive Marged Brice arrives at the home, Kay learns that life isn’t quite finished with her yet.
Abandoned by her family, and claiming to be 134-years-old, Kay’s new neighbour seems utterly alone.
But is she?
The voice of an unseen child, and the mysterious appearance of a diary from Marged’s youth, transport Kay back to an 1899 lighthouse on the wild, tempestuous shores of Georgian Bay.
Against a backdrop of murder, a broken engagement, and a spectral child named “Perdita,” the diary connects Kay to an unresolved secret in Marged’s past.
Kay discovers that she may hold the key to Marged’s anguished choice between two loves.
But will she share it?
Nearness of the Wild is part of “The Lighthouse Chronicles” which includes Perdita, also available through Balsam Books.
350 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2025
About the author
Hilary Scharper
4 books111 followers"Place as a character with a will and memory of its own...."
I am a Canadian author who writes stories that bring together history and the uncanny beauty of the natural world. My work is shaped by a lifelong love of the land and a commitment to listening. My writing seeks to illuminate the conversations between people and places, a dialogue that survives in our memories, our stories, and the living ecosystems around us.
I have always loved wild places and spaces. Throughout my lifetime, Georgian Bay has remained a steadfast companion, wild and mysterious, by turns congenial and forbidding. After my son was born, the Bay invited me to lean in and learn to listen to the language of water, rock, and white pine. Soon after, I began writing with the Bay, learning to hear place as a character with a will and memory of its own.
My novels “Perdita” and “Nearness of the Wild” grew from summers spent at the Cabot Head Lighthouse and Nature Reserve on Georgian Bay. During those summers, the Bay taught me not only humility as a writer, but also my role as a steward of the land’s testimony. These became the lessons which continue to shape my stories and the scenes I imagine, my stories always striving to echo the living ecosystem which both cradles and compels me.
****
Hilary was born in Toronto, Canada, where she also attended university, studying cultural anthropology and eventually completing her doctorate at Yale. For over two decades she taught courses on animals, culture, and nature at the University of Toronto. In 2023 she retired from teaching to become a full-time writer.
The Lighthouse Chronicles draw on Hilary’s experience at the Cabot Head Lighthouse and Nature Reserve on Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron). For over 25 years, she and her family spent their summers there as “assistant lighthouse keepers” and “land stewards.”
Hilary has previously published fiction with Simon&Schuster Canada, Sourcebooks USA, and Seraphim Editions Canada. Her non-fiction work has been published with University of Minnesota Press, Duke University Press, University of Toronto Press, Routledge, Blackwell, Wiley Blackwell, and Berghahn.
She currently lives with her husband and son in Guelph, Ontario.
I am a Canadian author who writes stories that bring together history and the uncanny beauty of the natural world. My work is shaped by a lifelong love of the land and a commitment to listening. My writing seeks to illuminate the conversations between people and places, a dialogue that survives in our memories, our stories, and the living ecosystems around us.
I have always loved wild places and spaces. Throughout my lifetime, Georgian Bay has remained a steadfast companion, wild and mysterious, by turns congenial and forbidding. After my son was born, the Bay invited me to lean in and learn to listen to the language of water, rock, and white pine. Soon after, I began writing with the Bay, learning to hear place as a character with a will and memory of its own.
My novels “Perdita” and “Nearness of the Wild” grew from summers spent at the Cabot Head Lighthouse and Nature Reserve on Georgian Bay. During those summers, the Bay taught me not only humility as a writer, but also my role as a steward of the land’s testimony. These became the lessons which continue to shape my stories and the scenes I imagine, my stories always striving to echo the living ecosystem which both cradles and compels me.
****
Hilary was born in Toronto, Canada, where she also attended university, studying cultural anthropology and eventually completing her doctorate at Yale. For over two decades she taught courses on animals, culture, and nature at the University of Toronto. In 2023 she retired from teaching to become a full-time writer.
The Lighthouse Chronicles draw on Hilary’s experience at the Cabot Head Lighthouse and Nature Reserve on Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron). For over 25 years, she and her family spent their summers there as “assistant lighthouse keepers” and “land stewards.”
Hilary has previously published fiction with Simon&Schuster Canada, Sourcebooks USA, and Seraphim Editions Canada. Her non-fiction work has been published with University of Minnesota Press, Duke University Press, University of Toronto Press, Routledge, Blackwell, Wiley Blackwell, and Berghahn.
She currently lives with her husband and son in Guelph, Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 3, 2025
There was much to recommend this book to me before I even started it as, if there is one thing I love, it's a lighthouse so "The Lighthouse Chronicles" was bound to tempt. However, the book is actually mainly set in a nursing home rather than a lighthouse, but we are transported to many other places throughout the book through reminiscences and memoirs.
The action begins when a new resident arrives, a lady called Marged who Kay, our narrator, is curious about, of course. Marged initially keeps herself to herself but eventually, Kay is asked to tea. It is, however, the diary that mysteriously appears in Kay's room which propels the story as it belongs to Marged. Kay is compelled to read it and it reveals the story of Marged's time as a nurse in a birthing home, a place where unmarried mothers come to have their babies. This is a place of dark dealings where good people try to do the right thing in the face of external pressure and we are particularly concerned with a young mother called Ruth and the story behind how she came to the home.
This forms a key part of the plot but we are also privy to Marged's love life and in particular her passion for George Stewart, a painter who Marged believes herself to be engaged to, but is he free to marry? In addition, Marged has attracted the attention of Dr. Reid, a steady man of good heart who Marged respects and likes and is, she will admit, attracted to, but does Dr. Reid have the same charisma in order to enchant Marged away from her love for George?
You can see from my short synopsis that there is a lot going on but it's all threaded together brilliantly. We move between present and past easily, chapters clearly marked, and the drawing of characters is distinct, which makes reading this a fully immersive experience. I felt the threat, the trauma, the yearning at various key points in the book and as a result, Scharper is a writer of whose work I would like to read more. In fact, I have Perdita downloaded already, the first "Lighthouse Chronicle".
If you like your fiction strong with a layer of spooky and a thick dollop of uncertain romance mixed with threat and tension, then this is a great book for your TBR list.
The action begins when a new resident arrives, a lady called Marged who Kay, our narrator, is curious about, of course. Marged initially keeps herself to herself but eventually, Kay is asked to tea. It is, however, the diary that mysteriously appears in Kay's room which propels the story as it belongs to Marged. Kay is compelled to read it and it reveals the story of Marged's time as a nurse in a birthing home, a place where unmarried mothers come to have their babies. This is a place of dark dealings where good people try to do the right thing in the face of external pressure and we are particularly concerned with a young mother called Ruth and the story behind how she came to the home.
This forms a key part of the plot but we are also privy to Marged's love life and in particular her passion for George Stewart, a painter who Marged believes herself to be engaged to, but is he free to marry? In addition, Marged has attracted the attention of Dr. Reid, a steady man of good heart who Marged respects and likes and is, she will admit, attracted to, but does Dr. Reid have the same charisma in order to enchant Marged away from her love for George?
You can see from my short synopsis that there is a lot going on but it's all threaded together brilliantly. We move between present and past easily, chapters clearly marked, and the drawing of characters is distinct, which makes reading this a fully immersive experience. I felt the threat, the trauma, the yearning at various key points in the book and as a result, Scharper is a writer of whose work I would like to read more. In fact, I have Perdita downloaded already, the first "Lighthouse Chronicle".
If you like your fiction strong with a layer of spooky and a thick dollop of uncertain romance mixed with threat and tension, then this is a great book for your TBR list.
December 15, 2025
Nearness of the Wild is a quietly gripping, atmospheric novel that lingers long after you’ve put it down. Set on the wild, storm-brushed shores of the Saugeen–Bruce Peninsula, Hilary Scharper once again proves her gift for weaving together landscape, memory, and the unseen forces that shape human lives.
At the novel’s heart is Kay Kelly, an elderly woman living in a remote nursing home, until the arrival of a new resident, Marged Brice. What unfolds is a layered, haunting narrative that moves fluidly between the present and the past, carried by the mysterious emergence of a diary from Marged’s youth and the spectral presence of a child named Perdita. The transitions between timelines are deft and immersive, pulling the reader back to a historic lighthouse on Georgian Bay, where love, loss, and secrecy first took root.
One of the novel’s great strengths is its setting. The Peninsula is not merely a backdrop but a living presence…brooding, watchful, and deeply entangled with the characters’ inner lives. Storms, cliffs, water, and isolation shape the emotional terrain as much as any human relationship. Scharper’s prose captures this with a quiet intensity, giving the landscape a voice that is beautiful and unsettling at once.
Nearness of the Wild is moody, compelling, and psychologically rich, sustained by an atmosphere of unease and by the slow revelation of long-buried truths. The novel keeps you guessing, layering hints and unanswered questions with care, and its conclusion draws the strands together in a way that feels satisfying and poetic - resolving key mysteries while leaving a reader wanting more.
This is a novel about memory, grief, and the ways the past insists on being heard. Haunting without being heavy-handed, Nearness of the Wild invites the reader into a world where time is porous, the natural world remembers, and certain stories refuse to stay buried. It was a great pleasure to dive back into Marged’s world so many years after Perdita, and I sincerely look forward to the third instalment!
At the novel’s heart is Kay Kelly, an elderly woman living in a remote nursing home, until the arrival of a new resident, Marged Brice. What unfolds is a layered, haunting narrative that moves fluidly between the present and the past, carried by the mysterious emergence of a diary from Marged’s youth and the spectral presence of a child named Perdita. The transitions between timelines are deft and immersive, pulling the reader back to a historic lighthouse on Georgian Bay, where love, loss, and secrecy first took root.
One of the novel’s great strengths is its setting. The Peninsula is not merely a backdrop but a living presence…brooding, watchful, and deeply entangled with the characters’ inner lives. Storms, cliffs, water, and isolation shape the emotional terrain as much as any human relationship. Scharper’s prose captures this with a quiet intensity, giving the landscape a voice that is beautiful and unsettling at once.
Nearness of the Wild is moody, compelling, and psychologically rich, sustained by an atmosphere of unease and by the slow revelation of long-buried truths. The novel keeps you guessing, layering hints and unanswered questions with care, and its conclusion draws the strands together in a way that feels satisfying and poetic - resolving key mysteries while leaving a reader wanting more.
This is a novel about memory, grief, and the ways the past insists on being heard. Haunting without being heavy-handed, Nearness of the Wild invites the reader into a world where time is porous, the natural world remembers, and certain stories refuse to stay buried. It was a great pleasure to dive back into Marged’s world so many years after Perdita, and I sincerely look forward to the third instalment!
March 9, 2026
Both Nearness of the Wild, Hilary Scharper’s 2nd novel, and Perdita, the 1st of the Lighthouse Trilogy - are formidable achievements.
A keen, wild, loving connection with the waters, rocks, and trees of Georgian Bay speak through Marged - and shape her curiosity and welling lifeforce as she comes of age in the late 1890’s - on the Bay and in Toronto. This is a deeply creative tour de force of love, compassion, myth, history, and deep connection with nature, ardent being and mystery.
I steeped in Nearness of the Wild, and, having finished it, returned to voraciously re-read Perdita, 10 years after my first reading.
Brava!
A keen, wild, loving connection with the waters, rocks, and trees of Georgian Bay speak through Marged - and shape her curiosity and welling lifeforce as she comes of age in the late 1890’s - on the Bay and in Toronto. This is a deeply creative tour de force of love, compassion, myth, history, and deep connection with nature, ardent being and mystery.
I steeped in Nearness of the Wild, and, having finished it, returned to voraciously re-read Perdita, 10 years after my first reading.
Brava!
July 14, 2026
I like to buy books from small bookstores when I travel, especially books by local authors and/or that take place in the area where I was traveling. That's how I came upon this book. The display nor the cover indicated to me that this was a book #2 in a trilogy, but I did not feel like I missed anything critical and do feel like this works as a standalone (though I will read Perdita at some point).
December 1, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed Nearness, much as I did Perdita, the first novel in Hilary Scharper’s Lighthouse Chronicles. I found myself thinking back to gothic classics like Wuthering Heights or Daphne Du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn or Rebecca in which nature (and in this case love of nature) plays a central role going beyond symbolism and atmosphere. I’m very much looking forward to the next instalment!
March 4, 2026
I have read both ‘ Nearness of the Wild’ and the companion initial novel in this series- Perdita.
I loved both of these novels. I loved the characters – Perdita, Marged, Bryce, Alan, the old ornithologist, the angry doctor, the Indian agent, the list goes on. I loved the place -the water, the trees, the rocks -all became characters in the story. I loved the pacing. I wanted to keep reading and I did. I stayed up late. I got up early. I’m gobbled it all up, possibly too quickly!
These novels are multi layered – part history, part place making, part social commentary, part dream-scape- so much to take in. Scharper is a master creator of place, character and feeling.
If you are a nature lover, if you enjoy literary fiction, historical mysteries and a touch of romance here’s my advice; get your hands on both these books, go home, make a big pot of tea, put you feet up and dive in. You are set for a macro dose of reading pleasure.
I loved both of these novels. I loved the characters – Perdita, Marged, Bryce, Alan, the old ornithologist, the angry doctor, the Indian agent, the list goes on. I loved the place -the water, the trees, the rocks -all became characters in the story. I loved the pacing. I wanted to keep reading and I did. I stayed up late. I got up early. I’m gobbled it all up, possibly too quickly!
These novels are multi layered – part history, part place making, part social commentary, part dream-scape- so much to take in. Scharper is a master creator of place, character and feeling.
If you are a nature lover, if you enjoy literary fiction, historical mysteries and a touch of romance here’s my advice; get your hands on both these books, go home, make a big pot of tea, put you feet up and dive in. You are set for a macro dose of reading pleasure.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews